Relativity
by Fred the Wraith
Summary: Space, Time, Family - everything is relative. Set post Ark of Truth with spoilers for it and for Season 10! Small amount of D/V shippiness.
1. Unexpected Arrivals

_Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Stargate Universe. It's a pity, really._

_Spoiler Alert! There will be references to happenings in Ark of Truth, as well as mention of Stargate SG1 Season 10. There is nothing here regaring Continuum as I do not know anything about the storyline. You have been warned!_

_AN1: The plan is that this will be a 3 or 4 chapter story with possibly a completely unexpected pairing later on._

**Relativity**

As the siren blared, announcing an unscheduled off-world activation, Walter made a small bet with himself. Contact from the Tok'ra was up this month so it might be them, but then again Gate Glitch hadn't happened in a while. SG1 was still on base and SG4 and SG20 were on diplomatic missions, so a Team Under Fire scenario wasn't very likely. There was the rare but interesting Alternate Timeline/Universe occurrence, but Walter never like to pick those, they were too random for his taste. So Walter settled with a Team Finishing Up Early; it happened often enough that he was now used to it.

"What's the status, Walter?"

Turning slightly in his seat to acknowledge General Landry, including Vala and Daniel who followed behind him, Walter returned to studying his screen intently.

"Receiving IDC sir…that's strange."

"What is it?"

"Well sir, it's a Stargate Command IDC, but it's not currently assigned to anyone. Incoming Audio Transmission sir."

"Let's hear it."

Through the bursts of static a feminine voice could just be made out.

"…hear me? SG….under fire and…is damaged. Request immediate extr…"

As a confused look was exchanged between the staff in the control room, Vala frowned. At Daniel's questioning glance, she shook her head slightly and turned her attention back to the General as he replied to the unknown voice.

"This is General Landry of Stargate Command. Who is this?"

"…you repeat? Piece of …isn't working pro…dammit!"

Any further conversation was halted by the sound of P90 fire. Realizing that he wouldn't get a clear answer through the communication system, Landry made a quick decision.

"Open the iris, defense team at the ready. Walter, send a confirmation signal."

The iris drew back with the familiar metallic grinding and the atmosphere in the Gateroom grew ever more tense. As the marines subtly tightened their grips on their weapons, Daniel turned to Vala and queried her earlier reaction.

"It's nothing. I just thought she sounded…familiar."

"Familiar how?"

The bright blue puddle rippled as an energy blast came bursting through, impacting on the wall just under the control room window. As everyone turned back to the gate, they caught sight of the dark-haired, slender figure in BDU's as she fell out of the event horizon and rolled down the ramp, ending facedown at the bottom. Shoving her P90 out of the way, and pushing herself up onto her hands and knees with her hair hanging around her face, she started to giggle hysterically, surprising the onlookers.

"Well, General Landry sir, I guess we can cross that one off the Friendly Planet list. They definitely do not want our help. Permission to find a dark corner and lick my wounds, sir?"

The tone of voice indicated that she was expecting a humorous reply from a friendly group. However, as she lifted her head and turned to face the personnel of Stargate Command, only three people in the room recognized her. Only two of them had met her in person. And only one of them was able to say anything. But when the staff in the Control Room heard Vala's exclamation, everyone felt the same chill of fear run through them.

"Adria?!"

**TBC…**

_AN2: Dun dun dunnn!! Do not worry, all will be explained!_


	2. Spot the Difference

**Chapter 2 - Spot the Difference**

Vala stared at the unconscious figure on the other side of the safety glass and softly swore to herself.

Her life was finally going well! The Ori were gone and no new Big Bad had stepped up to take their place. Everything was running smoothly, she was finally starting to recognise some of Mitchell's sayings, and Daniel had given her a new tiara for her last birthday. She was happy! And then what happens? Her psychotic, power-hungry, god-like being of a daughter comes falling through the Stargate and now everything would change back again. Vala knew that she had done some morally dubious things in her time, but even Karma wouldn't be this unfair!

However complaining wouldn't change anything, and there had been something about Adria as she had stood in the Gateroom that had seemed…off. Not the fact that she had seemed perfectly at home in the SGC (though that was odd in itself), but something else. As she stared at the figure locked into the restraining chair, Vala started cataloguing what she saw.

She took in the sight of the tumbled curls falling over her left eye. The long figure that looked strange clad in BDU's when she was used to seeing it in ornate dresses. The fact that she was snoring slightly. While all these things were strangely incongruous, none of them sparked the same sense of difference that Vala had seen in the Gateroom.

_**Twenty minutes earlier…**_

As Adria straightened up and resettled her BDU vest, she was completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere of the Gateroom. "General Landry sir, did the rest of SG9 make it back safely?" Finally comfortable with how her vest was sitting, she started down the ramp in order to exit the room.

Her forward motion, however, was quickly halted by the sound of multiple guns being cocked.

"Umm, guys? What's wrong? Do I have some kind of alien bug on me?"

She glanced up towards the control room with the intention of demanding information, but her query left her mind at the sight of the slight figure standing next to the General.

"Mother? What are you doing here? And where is Davy?"

Something seemed to click in her mind, and Adria's eyes started darting around the room noticing the slight differences from what she had been expecting. Reaching a decision, she stood tall and announced to the room "I don't know who you are or what you want, but I will tell you nothing about Stargate Command. You came close with your impersonation of them, but not quite correct."

Smiling to the room in general, she gestured towards the right had wall. "For example, over there should be the blast mark from when Felger almost blew us all up. And standing over there is Sgt Hill who I know is currently on injury leave with a broken ankle. And I bet you if I look at the Gate itself there will be missing…"

But no-one found out what would be missing from the Gate, for as she turned around to face it, she caught sight of someone standing off to the side who she had never expected to see. Her face paled alarmingly quickly and all she said was a whispered "Adam?" before she crumpled to the floor in a dead faint.

**TBC…**

_AN: I know, I know, you demanded explanations, but if I included them here this chapter would be too big! But do not fret, they will be coming soon._


	3. Revelations

_Previously in Relativity…_

…_she caught sight of someone standing off to the side who she had never expected to see. Her face paled alarmingly quickly and all she said was a whispered "Adam?" before she crumpled to the floor in a dead faint._

**Chapter 3 – Realisations**

_Back in the here and now…_

Vala's attention was called back to the present by the soft groan filtering through the speaker from the interrogation room. As she slowly roused from her unconscious slumber, Adria tried to raise her hand to push her hair out of her eyes. The attempt failed, however, when her upward motion was halted by the restraining shackle around her wrist. Shocked into full alertness Adria's eyes darted around the room, searching for a reason for her imprisonment. It didn't take very long for her to notice the person sitting in the corner of the room.

"Morning, sunshine!"

Adria rolled her eyes at Cameron Mitchell's obnoxiously cheerful greeting. "Oh please. They sent you to interrogate me? The least they could have done is sent in a fake O'Neill. He would have been entertaining!"

"Ouch. That hurt. Now before we start, I should probably warn you that you are temporarily Mojo-less." With that, Cameron shifted in his seat allowing Adria a glimpse of the silver device on the table behind him. But instead of the expected look of fear or anger, it was confusion that flitted across Adria's face.

"You still think that I am the Orisi?"

Cameron leant back in his chair with the air of someone explaining something very simple to someone very stupid. "Well, considering that the last time anyone saw you, you were a great ball of flame…yeah. We still think you are the Orisi. So…do you want to start telling us why you're here?"

But Adria was paying no attention to him. Instead, he could just make out a couple of muttered words. "Impossible…years ago…never told me…still…"

"Okay, nice to know, but do you want to answer the question?"

"No."

"No?"

"No sir. Because I can't."

Cam started to get slightly nervous. This wasn't the Adria that he had been expecting. She seemed more…human.

"Why can't you?"

"Well sir, after the incident on PX5-327, all of the people who would want to interrogate me about the SGC already know that I'm no longer the Orisi."

"Okay, that made almost no sense."

"It means that this SGC is real, not an impersonation. It means that this is either the past or an alternate reality. Or both."

"Okay, that made slightly more sense."

--

In the observation room General Landry turned to Colonel Carter with an obvious question in his eyes. "Is this possible? Could she be from the future?"

"It's possible sir. Goodness knows we've had too many time travel and alternative universe scenarios of our own for us to rule it out completely. But can we trust her sir?"

"I don't know, Colonel. I don't know."

Turning back to the window, they caught the tail end of the conversation inside the interrogation room.

"…just sounds a little convenient if you ask me. How am I supposed to believe that not only are you no longer 'Mojo-ed up', but you are now a member of the SGC?"

"Well, since you have obviously lost too many brain cells from repeated blows to the head, why don't I make this easy for you. You can go down to storage, grab the Tok'ra memory recall device, plug me in and hey presto, instant views of my past!"

"And why would I do that for you?"

At this, Adria leaned forward confidently in her chair and smirked at the man seated opposite. "Three reasons Mitchell. One, I am telling the truth. Two, I have spent more time in this chair that I ever want to again. And three, I know both of your middle names, and unless you want them forever inscribed on whatever recording devices you have running, you are going to help me. Oh, and when you get the device, grab General Landry and SG1 as well. I don't want to have to repeat my memories again later."

Cam had paled slightly at point three. "How do I know you're not bluffing?"

The smirk grew stronger. "Your full initials are CAGM and your full name is Camer…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up there! Let's not do anything rash now! Let me talk it over with the General and we'll see what we can do."

"Fine. I'll just wait here!"

And with that final burst of false perkiness, Adria slumped down in her seat to await the decision from the higher-ups.

**TBC…**

_AN: Some explanations, and many more will be in the next chapter. Also, this is turning out slightly longer than the original three to four chapters. So please stick with me!_


	4. Those Cascading Grandfathers!

**Chapter 4 – Those Cascading Grandfathers! **

The tension in the room had climbed higher and higher as everyone prepared for hearing Adria's story. As she watched Carter set up the memory recall device, Adria wondered to herself if this was going to end badly. She knew that when/where she came from it had taken a while for the members of Stargate Command to believe her story, but maybe her unconventional entrance had smoothed the way for her in this time/reality. Then again her previous entrance into her normal time/reality had been pretty unconventional as well. To be perfectly honest, between the worrying about the situation and trying to sort out the use of past/present/future tense, this was all creating a bit of a headache.

"So…did anyone bring popcorn?"

Smirking internally as she watched Mitchell neatly dodge Sam's slap to the back of his head, Adria schooled her features and settled back into the chair. "Before we start this I need to know some things, mainly dates and incidences. The last thing I want is to cause a Grandfather Paradox, and I really don't want to die a horribly painful death due to Entropic Cascade failure, so if you could answer a couple of questions, I would appreciate it. Firstly, what is the date?"

Silently communicating through pointed glances, SG1 seemed to come to an agreement. "July 21st"

"The same year that the Ori were defeated?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, now I have a time frame I can try to remember some of the mission files from that period. So, what happened after…Have you encountered the Opotokians yet?"

"Met them last week. Friendly little village full of boring little people."

"Right. Friendly. I guess it's probably safe to warn you to watch out for the livestock."

"Their livestock?"

"Two words. Hunting Cows."

There was a significant pause as the group processed what she had said, and finally Daniel voiced the one question running through all their heads.

"You're kidding…right?"

"Wait and see. Anyway, what else happened back then. Have you been to PJ8-247?"

"We had a mission scheduled for last month, but it was scrubbed due to last minute Intel."

"Okay, possible alternate universe. In my timeline, the mission went ahead and ended badly. I guess they never got the Intel. Still not enough to confirm it though. Dammit! There are too many missions to try and remember and all of them run along the same boring lines of 'Go to a planet, look at trees, get shot at!' I can never remember what…hey! What about Jack's 4th of July party? Did the Nox appear and kidnap Teal'c?"

"No…the barbeque got rained out and we ended up eating pizza and playing scrabble. Daniel cheated."

Turning to face his accuser, Daniel pointed at Cameron and stated smugly "You're just pissed off that I managed to get 'Xenophobe' on a triple word score and an extra 50 points for using all my tiles!"

As Cameron and Daniel bickered away in the background, Teal'c approached the chair that restrained the former Orici. As a faint "I'm a linguist, Mitchell. I'll always win…" drifted over from the corner, he bowed his head in acknowledgement of the figure seated before him and appeared to be deep in thought for a short while.

"May I inquire as to why the Nox felt the need to apprehend me from General O'Neill's residence?"

"Sorry Teal'c, but you never told us. You just appeared three days later in a different outfit and saying that you were unable to tell us the reason why. After that, every time someone asked you for details you would just do your eyebrow thing and walk away."

"Nice to know that Muscles is just as inscrutable in the future as he is now."

"Judging from what you've told me, I don't think I am from your future. Two major occurrences haven't happened when they were supposed to in this timeline. It looks like I am from a possible alternate timeline which means that it is safe to interrogate me. This being so, let's get on with it. Fire up the machine and everyone can look at all the embarrassing moments of my rather short life to date. Who wants to ask the first question?"

Yelling to make himself heard over the four different voices trying to ask four different questions, General Landry made the decision for the others. "As leader of this base, I have the right to ask the first question."

"Very well, General. Proceed."

"According to the mission reports from SG1, the last anyone saw of you, you were a ball of fire that was fighting a ball of blue light. How did you come to be here in this form?"

"Great. Ask the tricky question. Well to start off with, the fight that SG1 saw was not just being held in your dimension, but across many dimensions at the same time. Ganos Lal may have been less powerful at the start but that crafty…being…has been around for longer than anyone can imagine, so she quickly got the upper hand…"

Adria wasn't sure whether she really needed to continue with the running commentary as she saw how absorbed the other people in the room were with the clear images being broadcast through the memory device. Deciding that it was as much for her own good as it was for the viewers, she kept talking.

"What could have been hours, days or even weeks later, I found myself in an unknown place…"

**TBC…**

_AN: OK, have to do a couple of mentions. The past/present/future tense is blatantly borrowed from Red Dwarf and the brief mention of the head slap is probably attributed to watching too many NCIS episodes. Opotokians are based on my cousins residing in a small town in the middle of nowhere, and Josie in particular who never had Hunting Cows but did have a Vampire Horse (really!). In the next chapter you will (finally!) find out what happened to our intrepid dimension traveller!_


	5. A Gazelle Named Bob?

_Previously in Relativity…_

…"_What could have been hours, days or even weeks later, I found myself in an unknown place…"_

**Chapter 5 – A Gazelle Named Bob?**

To the casual observer the room resembled nothing more than a games room in a large manor house. The prerequisite pool table was in the corner, the standard wing-backed chairs were grouped around the fire. Even the clichéd animal heads were mounted on the wall (though someone had draped tinsel over the antlers of the moose and had stuck a fake moustache on the gazelle). The room, although opulent and lavish, gave the impression of being warm and inviting. But to the figure huddled on the rug in front of the fire, none of this was important.

Pain and weariness showing through every movement she made, the person formerly known as the Orici pushed herself up, first to her knees and then forcing herself to her feet. Gathering her dignity as well as her torn robes around her and pushing her mussed hair out of her face, Adria faced the person sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs calmly sipping a cup of tea. Speaking carefully around her split lip, Adria still kept her air of confidence and superiority around her as she addressed the person.

"You will not win. The Ori were powerful and I now hold all of their power. You cannot hope to last against…"

"Oh will you desist! Unless you have conveniently forgotten, the Ori are dead. The followers in their galaxy no longer believe. And if it happens the way I believe it will happen, the Tau'ri will soon ensure that the few followers you managed to gain in the Milky Way will soon cease worshipping you as well. You are powerless and you know it, so sit down and drink your tea while we wait."

All the confidence and dignity left Adria as she slouched over to a nearby footstool and swiftly collapsed down onto it. As she sulkily accepted a cup of tea and chose a tiny sandwich from the tray, she seemed to take in the appearance of the room around her. "Why are we here? Why did we stop fighting? What is this place?!"

Ganos Lal considered the dejected figure in front of her before she replied. "Why we are here and the reason we have stopped fighting are the same. You were losing and had we continued to battle, you would have died."

"What?!"

"Don't interrupt. Now to be perfectly honest, I would have been quite happy to see you wiped out of every plain of existence, but there is someone who still believes that you have something to offer. And to answer the question of what this place is, it is a space between spaces, and it is her home."

"Whose home?"

"Mine."

Spinning in her seat, Adria turned to face the person who had appeared in the other wing-backed chair. Even though she was certain that she had never seen the dark-haired woman before, she felt a sense of familiarity that she couldn't quite place. But before she could open her mouth to question the sudden appearance, the woman picked up the remaining cup of tea and took a quick sip before shooting Adria an assessing look.

"So, you're the one who has been causing so many problems for my friends. And the one who has the higher plains in such an uproar. You know, I was expecting more."

"So sorry to disappoint. By the way, who the hell are you?"

The unexpected slap to the head stung almost as much as the rebuke from Ganos Lal. "Watch your manners, child. Oma Desala is the only person on your side and the only thing keeping you alive at the moment. Show some respect."

Adria sent her a disbelieving look as she replied. "You are asking me to respect someone who had a tinsel covered moose head hanging on her wall. It's not going to happen."

Startled, Oma glanced over at the ornamented head. "What the…one little 'Getting Rid of the Half-Ascended Bastard' victory party, and you're still cleaning up…oh well." And with a quick snap of her fingers, the tinsel disappeared.

"How…how did you do that?"

"This is my home, child. I control all aspects of it. However I think I will leave the moustache on Bob. It suits him."

"…you named your animal heads?"

"Of course. The gazelle is Bob, the sabre-toothed possum is Fred and the moose is Dresden the Protector of the Chaotic Realms. I call him Harry for short. Now, as fascinating as this is, we have much to do and less time to do it in. Ganos, my thanks for your assistance in this matter. I hope you have not been inconvenienced?"

"Not at all, Oma. I must admit that I received some...closure through the process. I must go now but remember, if she gets too annoying, I am ready and willing to offer my assistance again."

Watching the younger girl pull a face at the disappearing form of Ganos Lal, Oma smiled to herself and set down her teacup. Indicating that Adria was to do the same, Oma stood and settled her dress around her. "Follow me child, you must choose from your three options and you will need time to consider them. We must start now or soon it may be too late."

**TBC…**

_AN: My goodness! A new chapter the next day! Sorry that it is so short, but the way I was writing it was going to be ridiculously long, so this was a good cut-off point. The second part of this will take a little longer to post as it will probably still be ridiculously long._


	6. What's Behind Door Number One?

**Chapter 6- What's Behind Door Number One?**

As Adria followed Oma down the corridor leading from the room, she noticed that the room seemed to disappear into nothingness. Inspecting the doors on either side of them, Adria thought that she could recognize the symbols carved their surfaces, but the definitions hovered in the back of her mind, unable to make themselves known to her. Trying to force the memories to the front of her mind, she was halted when Oma began to speak.

"Adria, I have brought you to this point because you need to make a decision. You were not given the chance to live your life as you might have done had the Ori not been involved in it. While you did achieve ascension through the powers passed on to you by them, you never went through the life experiences necessary for developing control over your ascended powers. You were never comforted by a parent when you were in pain. You never discovered true friends in unlikely places. You never felt true love or suffered a broken heart. By first transforming from child to adult, and then from adult to ascended in such a short amount of time, you have missed out on so much. You were never given the chance to develop who you were, and as such when you ascended, you became a danger, not just to other ascended beings but to the entirety of this and all universes."

Carrying on down the endless corridor, Oma stopped in front of a seemingly random door and indicated for Adria to open it. "Here you will see in others what you might have experienced in your lifetime. Observe carefully, for they may affect your decision when we reach the end of the corridor."

_As Adria stepped over the threshold, both the door and the corridor behind faded into nothingness and Adria found herself in a quiet landscape that was dotted with small stone markers. As she was about to ask where they were, she noticed a girl approaching over a slight rise carrying a small bunch of flowers. Nearing their position, it seemed that the girl did not notice them as she passed them by; her honey-blond hair was blowing across her face in the slight wind, but she paid it no mind as she appeared to reach her intended destination. Sinking to her knees in the grass next to one of the markers, she placed her bouquet next to the cold stone._

"_Hey mom it's me, Cassie. I know it's been a while, but school has kept me busy. I'm pretty sure that you'd be proud of me no matter what I did, but when I chose pre-med I had this weird mental picture of you trying to hug me to death, and I got the feeling you approved." Cassie smiled to herself in remembrance and then shook her head as she carried on with her one-sided conversation. "I visited the Wells' on the way here and saw baby Janet again. I'd just walked through the door and she came flying at my legs and refused to let go! She's almost ready for kindergarten now and I can just imagine her bossing the other kids around the schoolyard. I stopped in to the mountain last week when I went for my yearly check-up. Dr Lam is no you, but she's decent. She's actually renamed isolation room 3 as the SG1 medical quarters. There's a big sign and everything! Also, she didn't use the big needle on me which leads me to wonder why you always felt the need to use one. The others asked me to pass on their regards, Teal'c almost bruised my ribs giving me a hug, and the new guy, Mitchell, said that he would probably have liked you. He's cool – kind of reminds me of a younger Jack. Anyway, I have to go; I'm meeting some of my old high school classmates for dinner. _

_Taking a quick breath the young woman looked upwards, obviously trying to stop the onset of tears. "I really miss you mom. It was hard enough losing my first mother, but then you were gone too. Sam tries to help, but we both know it's not the same. I really wish you hadn't died mom."_

As the girl pressed her hand to the cold stone marker and then walked back over the hill, wiping her eyes, Adria turned to Oma. "Why have you shown me this? My mother is still alive."

"No. The woman who gave birth to you is still alive. You never had a mother. A mother is a person who raises you, cares for you, and worries about your future and your well-being. Janet Frasier did not give birth to Cassandra, but she was her mother nonetheless. If you had been raised by a mother or a father you would have most likely turned out differently. Come, we have more to see."

Watching the cemetery fade away, Adria spied the door that they had entered through and followed Oma through the open portal. Now recognising the symbol carved on the door as the one for 'family' Adria turned to her guide. "I had no need of a mother. The Ori were the only parents I needed. My followers my only family."

Shaking her head in disappointment as they walked down the endless corridor, Oma replied sadly, "To the Ori you were a weapon, a tool to be used. You were never a child. Your followers stood with you out of fear, not love. That is not a family. And friends; friends never factored into your life."

With this, Oma opened another door and gestured Adria through.

_Standing in an shaded field near an inactive Gate, Adria turned to the ascended being and queried, "What is this place?"_

"_We are on P3X-779, approximately seven months after the Ori army was stopped."_

"_I spent seven months fighting that…person!?"_

"_No child, in this place time is relative and it doesn't move in a linear fashion. When we saw Cassandra, it was about a year before you were born."_

_About to enquire the reason for their arrival at this place, Adria halted her question when she spied some figures rapidly exiting the nearby woods. Though they were obviously armed and alert for any sign of attack as they quickly moved, the attitude that they projected was one of humour. Watching them move towards the gate in a controlled group, she could easily identify each person, though their costumes were unfamiliar. _

_At the head of the team, both Sam and Vala were in full Elizabethan style dresses, the corsets compressing their figures and the hooped skirts making it difficult for them to walk quickly. The P90's that they both held seemed highly odd against their old-fashioned dress. Daniel and Teal'c followed behind them, slightly fanned out in order to provide more protection if necessary. Clad in monk's robes, they looked decidedly more comfortable that the women of SG1, though just as odd with their weapons contrasting with the peaceful nature of their garb. Bringing up the rear was Cameron Mitchell. His P90 was held with confidence and he was not hampered at all by the short cloak swirling around his shoulders. The tunic underneath was a beautiful shade of blue, with stunning gold embroidery over every inch. The image presented was one of stately grandeur. _

_An image that was greatly reduced upon looking down and realising that Cameron Mitchell was wearing tights and a cod-piece. Raising his voice slightly to be heard over the giggles coming from the head of the column, Cameron yanked at his leggings and enquired of the rest of the team " Can someone please explain to me again why I got stuck with the tights?"_

_Ignoring the burst of outright laughter coming from Sam and Vala, and the fact that Daniel had to turn his head to hide his grin; Teal'c raised his voice as he replied to his team leader's query. "Colonel Mitchell, when we 'appropriated' our costumes, you agreed that Daniel Jackson and I needed the monk's robes in order to access the archive rooms, and as this society is opposed to males dressing in females clothing, you were left with the costume you have on." _

"_But Teal'c …tights!"_

"_Just be glad you don't have to wear this damn corset! While it provides a lot more lift than some of the stuff that 'Victoria' sells in her stores, it's almost impossible to breathe in! How do these women survive in these outfits?"_

_Ignoring Vala's outburst, Cameron instead returned to his original line of complaining. "All I'm asking is why we couldn't take the time to grab our BDU's before we skedaddled from town."_

_Daniel's smile faded as he turned to face the team leader. "Because they wanted to burn us at the stake as witches, Mitchell, and having already seen that happen to one of my friends and almost going through it myself, I never want to see it happen again. So please forgive me for not taking the time to grab a pair of trousers for you as we ran for our lives!" _

_As Daniel stomped ahead of the rest of the group, the silent communication that they seemed to be so good at took place between the remaining members. After several pointed glances, a confirming nod, and a particularly eloquent eyebrow raise, three of the members of SG1 slowed down slightly as Vala hurried to catch up with the sulking Daniel._

"_Daniel, darling, you do realise that those villagers had no hope of catching us. After Teal'c came bursting through with his 'Action-Hero' entrance, they virtually dropped their torches and ran. We weren't in danger, Daniel."_

_Drawing a frustrated hand through already tousled hair, Daniel let out a huge sigh as he tried to find the right words. "I know that Vala, at least my head knows that. But I saw those torches, and instantly I was back in that square, seeing you chained and being completely unable to help you. My brain was saying that we would be fine, but all I could see was the fear in your eyes, and the smell…oh god, the smell…"_

_Stopping his forward motion with a restraining hand to his arm, Vala turned him around. Holding his head between her hands to ensure he was facing her, Vala looked him in the eyes and put forth as much sincerity as she could. "Daniel, back in that marketplace you did everything you humanly could to try and save me and for that I count you as my truest friend. Now, we are safe. The Ori are gone and I am alive. Our friends will never let us be in that situation again. Trust in them, and trust in me." And with that she slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him with all her strength. For a couple of seconds he was unresponsive before Vala felt his arms encircle her and him hugging her in return. They stood together for a couple of seconds, taking comfort in each others embrace, until Vala was forced to state that between her corset and Daniel's hug, she would need air in the near future. Transferring her hold from his body to his arm, Vala and Daniel continued walking until they reached the DHD, the rest of the team not far behind them._

"_Well team, sorry to interrupt this touching Hallmark moment, but the villagers with the flaming torches might be behind us so if you could dial home, Jackson, it would be great."_

_  
As Daniel punched in the co-ordinates and sent through the iris code, Vala turned to him with a smile in her eyes. "My Daniel, I wonder if anyone in the Gateroom has a camera with them. I believe that photographic proof of Mitchell's outfit will be needed for the team scrapbook!"_

_And with that, she ducked past Daniel and darted through the event horizon, quickly followed by a growling Colonel Mitchell. As Adria watched, the rest of SG1 followed soon after, laughing between them (with the exception of Teal'c whose eyes merely softened into his version of a full grin). _

As the blue puddle flashed out into nothingness, Adria watched it silently. When Oma touched her arm and indicated towards the door that had appeared behind them she walked through it, still lost in thought, not even recognising that the symbol was the one for 'friendship'. Walking back down the corridor, Oma reached a door and motioned for Adria to step forward. Realising that she would have to see another scene, Adria asked with a touch of apprehension in her voice "What will I be seeing now? I have seen family, and I guess that the last one was either friendship or compassion, so what will this be?"

Opening the door, Oma smiled and said one word. "Love."

_Stepping through the doorway, Adria was greeted by the sight of the SGC Gateroom. Though vaguely familiar with the room from the impressions she had received from her priors, she had never seen it set out as it was now. The gun embankments had been removed and in their place were rows of folding chairs occupied by various members of the SGC. The Gate itself was obviously powered down, and had been decorated with strands of flowers and ribbons, and at the base of the ramp was standing a small group of people. Bra'tac was dressed in his formal robes, calmly awaiting the start of the ceremony. Before him, the men of SG1 were arrayed, accompanied by General Jack O'Neill. Watching as Teal'c attempted to straighten out Daniel's tie, Adria was struck by the simplicity of the moment. At some unseen signal, the men quickly settled into arranged places and looked to the entrance of the Gateroom. As the sound of a lightly played guitar filtered through the loudspeakers, Sam and Dr Lam walked sedately through the doors, both dressed in elegant dresses and carrying small posies of flowers. Taking their places opposite the men at the base of the ramp, they smiled at their friends and turned to face the Gateroom entrance._

_Though he had been fidgeting in his place for the last twenty minutes, Daniel finally relaxed and his eyes lit up at the sight of Vala entering the room on General Landry's arm, the brightness of his smile outshone only by hers. As the music swelled from a single guitar to a full orchestra still playing the same delicate tune, he watched his bride proceed towards him. Reaching her future husband, Vala took a second to press a kiss of thanks to the cheek of the man who had become the closest thing to a true father, she took Daniel's arm with a smile and faced the dignified Jaffa acting as a marriage celebrant._

_As Master Bra'tac's solemn words floated over the gathered people, Adria paid more attention to the people in front of her. Jack's face was almost impassive but for the slight smirk hiding in his lips. Sam was grinning from ear to ear, every inch the proud sister, and it seemed that she was seconds away from hugging everyone in sight. But most memorable were Daniel and Vala. Though both of them were focused on the older Jaffa in front of them, there was an impression that the two of them were only aware of each other. The air around them seemed to shine with some unknown quantity, one that gave them an inner glow. As they repeated heartfelt vows and exchanged tokens of their love, the promises they made reverberated in the hearts and minds of the people looking on. And as they exchanged their first kiss as a committed couple, the cheers and applause from their gathered friends were deafening. Watching the wedding party make their way out of the room, followed by their well wishers, Adria remained silent and unmoving, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. As the room slowly faded back into the mist, her eyes stayed focused on the place where her mother had stood, joy and love shining from her eyes for all to see._

"Now you have seen what you should have been given the chance to experience, had you not been the Orici. I have shown you what I can of the joys and associated hardships of family, friendship and love. It is now time for you to choose." With that the ascended being reached the end of the hallway and opened the final door.

As Adria stepped hesitantly into the room, she recognised the original room that she had arrived in, the only difference was that in front of the roaring fire were two figures. The sight of two pyjama-clad young women lying on the rug with a big bowl of popcorn between them and playing some sort of board game was unexpected, but the most unsettling part was the fact that both of the girls were clearly her.

"What is this? Who are they?"

"They are you. Or to be more precise, they are who you could be."

Turning to the woman on the left, whose hair was tucked up in a rather severe hairstyle and whose pyjamas were covered with the Ori symbol, Oma straightened out her collar and handed her a pair of slippers. "This one is your Ori half. If you use one option and remain an ascended being, you will become her. Your powers will be restricted until you learn the necessary controls and restraints in order to use them. Even so, you will still run the risk of returning to the persona that you once held." As Adria looked at the young woman closer, she was startled to see her eyes flare up with flames in the pupil.

Facing the second woman, dressed in a pair of worn-in sweatpants and a T-shirt that proclaimed 'To be honest with you, I'm a liar' and with her hair in curly disarray, Oma used a sparkly hair-clip to help push an unruly curl out of her eyes. "And this is your human half. Use your second option, and you will return to the mortal plains as an ordinary human. No part of your ascended or Ori powers will remain, and you will get to live a human life, going through all the necessary experiences that may one day enable you to ascend on your own."

Quickly smiling at the women standing over them and watching, the human Adria picked up a set of dice from the board and rolled. Moving her game piece the appropriate number of places, she indicated for the Ori Adria to pick a piece of card from the nearby box.

"Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of what?"

The human Adria smirked as she quickly replied "The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth!"

Shaking her head in disgust at the flippant-sounding reply, Ori Adria turned the card over to read the answer. "You know, if you are serious about the quest for knowledge, you need to take this seri…what kind of stupid phobia is that!"

"One that people suffer from, apparently so if I could please have my pie piece, we can carry on with the game!"

Watching her human half flick a piece of popcorn at her Ori half, Adria's confusion was evident. "What are they doing?"

"Adria, you know as well as I do that knowledge is not power. How you use that knowledge is the true power. At the moment, they are testing their knowledge and how it can be used."

As the Ori half correctly named Ulaanbaatar as the capital of Mongolia, Adria remembered something that Oma had said earlier. "You said that there were three options, but so far you have only shown me two."

As the two girls lying in front of the fire froze in place, Oma grew serious and stared into the flames. "The third option is one of oblivion. If you cannot live your life as a lesser ascended being, or as a human, your only other option is to be erased from all plains of existence. There will be no limitations on you, nor will there be expectations, but this is only because you will not exist. When faced with the same decision you face now, others could not bear the thought of losing their power. They chose oblivion. I must now leave you to make your choice."

The two figures playing the game came back to motion as Oma disappeared and Adria pondered what she should do. Staring into the fire beyond the figures, she could see pictures appearing in the bright flames. Watched as an image of herself played with a young boy. Dressed in a waitress uniform and offering advice as well as coffee with Oma looking on from behind the counter. Talking to someone while sitting at a cafeteria table, a bowl of some kind of blue substance before her. In a heated argument with Gannos Lal. Empty nothingness. So many different visions of what she could be.

As the pictures finally settled on the flower and ribbon draped Stargate from Daniel and Vala's wedding, Oma re-appeared at her side. "I see you have chosen."

Before Adria could query her statement, she felt the shove of a hand at the small of her back and before she could react, felt herself falling into the fire. But instead of feeling the expected searing pain, all she felt was cool nothingness before a clap of thunderous noise brought with it the sensation of landing on hard ground. She could feel the cold seeping through every inch of her skin, before the feeling of cloth draping over her body erased some of it, along with the concerned hands feeling her neck for a pulse. Struggling to open eyes that had closed in fear, she could make out voices drifting through the fog that enclosed her mind.

"…don't know where she came from, she just appeared."

"…Medical and Security staff to the Gateroom immediately! General Landry to the Gateroom!"

"…the hell does a naked woman appear out of nowhere? I thought this only happened on…"

"…oh my God. It's Adria."

Filtering out the confusing jumble, Adria locked on to the most important piece of information. As she finally managed to open her eyes and tried to sit up, she realised that the voice had been correct, and that under the jacket that a sympathetic person had draped over her, she was completely naked. The thought of 'You dumped me in a public place naked, you ascended bit…' was cut off as a Zat blast hit her and she tumbled into unconsciousness.

**TBC…**

_AN: Oh my God. This is by far the longest chapter I have ever written, but I wanted to get it all out at once in order to keep everyone from getting bored of the various rooms. Now a couple of things. First of all and just to clarify things, you can assume that Adria's original 'verse was the same as ours up until the battle at the end of 'Ark of Truth'. Secondly; yes, that is a real phobia, and yes, that is the capital of Mongolia. Thirdly, the music played at Daniel and Vala's wedding was the Beatles 'Here Comes the Sun' as recorded by John Williams on the George Martin produced 'In My Life' album. It is a fabulous piece of music, and perfect for the event. Finally, in the next chapter you will find our SG1's reactions to what they have seen, as well as some of what happened to Adria upon her arrival in her alternate universe. That is, if I can keep it all straight. See you soon!_


	7. As Expected, Questions

**Chapter 7 – As Expected, Questions**

As the image of the flower-bedecked Gateroom faded into blackness, Adria closed her eyes as if to clear out misty thoughts. Watching the onlookers rouse from their absorption in the images that had flowed across the screen of the memory recall device, she knew that there would be many questions. However, there was one thing that needed to be done first.

"Can someone please scratch the side of my nose? It's been driving me nuts for the last twenty minutes and considering my arms are strapped to the chair…" Trailing off with a hopeful tone, Adria tried her best 'Puppy Eyes' as the members of SG1 looked at each other. Finally Sam approached her and utilizing a nearby pencil, helped scratch the nose of the trapped girl.

As Adria settled back in the restraining chair with relief evident in her body language, she smiled her gratitude at Sam and turned to the rest of the team. "So…do we want to see what happened to Alice after an interfering ascended busy-body pushed her down the rabbit hole?"

"I have one question before we start."

Looking towards her mother, Adria smiled as she mentally guessed at what the question would be.

"Daniel and I were married?"

"Yes mother, you were married two years to the day after the defeat of the Ori. At the time of my departure from my universe, you had been married for almost three years, for the most part happy barring the occasional minor argument and one rather major one."

"How major?"

"You almost started World War Three after a discussion got rather heated during an IOA conference. China took Daniel's side, Russia took yours, and England tried to stay neutral but suspected France of playing one against the other." An image flashed across the memory recall device, showing the interior of the meeting room. At one end of the table Vala and Daniel as well as the aforementioned delegates were talking rather heatedly. At the other end of the table, General Landry was sitting with his head held in his hands while the remaining members of SG1 as well as Adria were watching the argument with the same intensity as tennis spectators at an intense match. "It took a public apology from yourselves and a lot of vodka for everyone to forgive and forget."

Looking slightly afraid of the answer, Daniel asked the next question. "What was the fight about?"

"I believe it was about the colour of the tiles in the downstairs bathroom. Vala wanted Seafoam Green; you wanted Robin's Egg Blue. You ended up going with plain white."

"Y'all know what the truly sad thing is. I can actually believe that it would happen."

"I'd stay out of this if I were you, Cameron. You were the one who suggested Mustard Yellow – 'for convenience'." Grinning as the rest of SG1 shot Cameron identical looks of disgust, Adria was about to continue with her story when Teal'c asked an unexpected question.

"May I enquire as to how DanielJackson and ValaMalDoran came to be wed?"

"I don't know all the details – I kind of arrived at the end of the story – but from what you guys told me, it started soon after the mission to P3X-779 that you saw in my earlier memories. Friendship turned into affection turned into love. Not that either one of them admitted it for the longest time. It took a formal SGC event and someone called Anise for them to finally admit their feelings."

Sam was distracted from Adria's commentary when the projector showed a flickering image of herself and Cameron sitting opposite Adria in what was obviously the cafeteria of the SGC. Watching herself burst into giggles as Cameron elaborated on his tale using expansive hand gestures, she felt slightly disconcerted knowing that the events she was watching hadn't happened yet. Those feelings quickly faded as she tuned in on the remembered conversation. "… comes sauntering over and starts flattering Jackson - something about needing his expertise and wouldn't it be great if he would work for the Tok'ra full-time – when Princess spots her and comes storming over. Turns out that Anise was one of the Tok'ra involved in removing Qetesh from her and had been the one to send her back to her planet when Vala refused to play along with their plan."

"So anyway, Vala comes over looking like she wants to remove Anise's skin using a blunt vegetable peeler and then proceeds to dump her drink over Anise's head. Now, while Anise is trying to wipe the fruit punch out of her eyes, Vala goes into this massive tirade about what a deceitful cow she is, and something about staying away from her friends 'you two-tonal bitch!' Anise starts spluttering on about 'how dare she be treated this way' and how this would jeopardise the agreement between the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri. At this point, Teal'c is having to hold Vala back or else she would be attacking the snake-lady with her bare hands, Sam and I are trying to find some napkins or a towel for Anise, and Jackson is just standing there with a smile on his face. Just as Anise reaches the height of her rant and demands to know 'just who does she think she is!' Daniel pipes up with 'She's the woman I'm going to marry.'"

"After he says that, everyone freezes. Sam and I are just standing there staring. Teal'c drops Vala out of shock but that's okay because she is so surprised that she doesn't feel anything. We all kind of knew that those two had been getting closer, but we had no idea that this was going to happen anytime soon. Anyway, just as Daniel reaches the blushing and stammering stage of self-consciousness, Vala's voice drifts up from ground level with 'are you serious?' and before Daniel can reply, she launches herself into his arms. We all gather around to congratulate them, and the snake-lady slinks off to find her dignity and a change of clothing."

Memory Sam wipes the tears of laughter out of her eyes and visibly tries to calm herself as she adds to the story. "So Vala and Daniel decide that if they delay the wedding for too long, one of them would get lost, killed or kidnapped, so three weeks later they got married and you arrived."

"Married and a child all in one day. They are truly blessed."

Watching the people seated at the table dissolve into laughter at Teal'c's deadpan comment, Vala sighed in appreciation at the welcome sight of her family having fun. With wistfulness echoing through her voice and her expression begging an honest answer, she enquired of her daughter "Adria, were we truly happy?"

Adria radiated serenity as she replied in one simple word. "Watch."

Drawn once again towards the image projector, the group quickly recognised the corridor outside Daniel Jackson's office. As the Adria of the memory peeked around the doorframe into the office, everyone was struck by the sense of controlled chaos that pervaded the office. Daniel and Vala were obviously in the middle of a rather complex translation, hindered by the fact that Vala had apparently misplaced her pencil. Watching with an indulgent smile as she frantically shuffled through multitudes of books and papers, Daniel took pity and finally reached over, plucking one of the several that had ended up holding her twisted hair in place. Beaming her gratitude at her husband, Vala gifted him with a soft kiss of thanks, and both of them returned to their texts.

"That was the first time I realised that you were truly in love. I had only known you from your past where you manipulated people and scenarios in order to save yourself. Marrying Tomin under a false name was a prime example of this. Of course, it made it easier not to have to get a divorce before you remarried, but it wasn't exactly honest. For the two months between your wedding and seeing this scene, I had doubts. Afterwards, there were none."

Visibly shaking herself out of her current pensive mood, Adria turned a bright face towards her onlookers. "Well, enough of the mush. Lets see what happened to Alice when she arrived in Wonderland!"

**TBC…**

_AN: Okay, small interim chapter before descending back into the future memories. Alice in Wonderland belongs to the fabulous Lewis Carroll (if only my mind was as creative and twisty as his, though I would not want his personal life!). Oh, and the Puppy Dog eyes are dedicated to J Stone - I can do them too!! Thirdly, the only reason that this chapter has arrived as quickly as it did is because some evil …human…has passed on a chest infection, and while convalescing in my ship, there is only so much TV you can watch before your brain turns to custard. Thank the ancestors (mine, not yours) that I have the wonderful diversion of Fanfiction to turn to in my time of ill health!_


	8. Glimpses of the PastFuture

**Chapter 8 – Glimpses of the Past/Future**

Turning her attention back to the viewing device, Adria concentrated on parts of her memories, trying to show short bursts rather than long scenes, but knowing that for some of them she would have to show everything.

"I woke up there pretty much the same way that I did here."

_The scene was one of Adria wearing a standard blue jump-suit and strapped into a very familiar chair, but instead of the calm demeanour they had seen earlier in the day, the viewers saw a very upset former Orici._

"Of course, I did handle it a little bit differently back then. Not much experience at the whole 'interrogation' thing."

_Tears streamed down Adria's face as she tried to answer the barrage of questions being hurtled "Where have you been?" "I don't know." "How did you appear inside our complex?" "I don't know!" "How are we supposed to believe you?!" "I DON'T KNOW!"_

"It didn't take that long for Sam to remember about the Memory Recall Device, but it took a couple of hours for the Area 51 guys to pack it up and send it over. In the interim, the situation got a little bit…uncomfortable."

_The interrogation room was now obviously empty of all personnel, excepting its imprisoned occupant. This didn't stop her from pleading with the people undoubtedly observing through the one-way mirror. "You've held me here for at least 3 hours and I know why you feel the need to keep me restrained, but if I don't get to use your version of ablutionary facilities soon there will be unpleasant consequences!"_

"Anyway, it all got sorted out and soon I was hooked up to this thing."

_To the onlookers, it was like they were watching a recording of what had happened to them earlier. The differences between what had happened then and what had happened in Adria's alternate reality were small. Daniel's quiet exclamation at seeing Oma. Sam's sniffles as Cassie laid flowers on her mothers' grave. General Landry's involuntary snort at the sight of Mitchell in tights. They watched as at the end of Adria's memories, their alternate selves filtered out of the room, leaving her alone again. _

"It took them a while to sort out what they were going to do with me but in the end, they let me stay."

_General Landry's face was solemn as he outlined the rules and requirements that would permit Adria to stay at SGC. "…You will submit to a full physical by the base doctors to confirm that you no longer retain any of the Ori powers. You will be accompanied at all times by at least one member of the SGC Security staff until such a time as you have proven your trustworthiness. You will not be permitted to leave the base unless specifically ordered by myself or a person of equal or greater rank to myself. You will not be permitted contact with members of the former Ori army. And finally, you will be given rooms here in SGC for your use but know that in your case, privacy is a privilege that can be removed and you can be placed back in this room if your actions warrant it. Are these rules clear and do you accept them?"_

"_What choice do I have? I accept."_

"Of course once they released me from that damned chair I had to go through every test imaginable to ascertain that I no longer had powers."

_The images quickly played across the screen, progressing from Dr Lam drawing some blood, to Adria confined within a MRI machine, and finally settling on her running on a treadmill, various wires leading to from her chest and head to machines surrounding her. While her body was focussing on moving fast enough to keep up with the treadmill, her awareness was caught up in the conversation happening across the room. Concentrating on hearing everything possible, she caught Dr Lam's slight sigh as she checked her clipboard before addressing General Landry. "I don't know what to tell you sir. Her blood-work showed some minute traces of Naquedah, probably from Baal's possession, and her MRI has a couple of tiny hot spots, but I compared them to Dr McKay's scan from after his encounter with the ascension machine and they are not strong enough to indicate any ascended powers. Those were the major anomolies we could detect but..."_

_"What is it, Carolyn?"_

_"Physically, she's perfect."_

"_Perfect?"_

"_Yes sir. I guess when the Ori decided to put their essence into a human vessel, they wanted it to be the best one possible. She has no viruses in her system, dormant or active. The strength and fitness tests we put her through place her at an above-average level, close to that of a professional athlete. Her vision is better than normal, as is her hearing and, judging by her reaction to Dr Lee's aftershave, her sense of smell. But even taking all of this into account, she is definitely solely human." As Adria was distracted from the conversation by the act of losing her balance and being flung off the back of the treadmill, she did manage to hear one last comment. "Of course, physical perfection doesn't rule out a slight tendency towards clumsiness."_

Watching the people in the room try to suppress laughter at the projected image, Adria herself smiled at the memory. "After I had been cleared to move around the base, it was still uncomfortable for me. Every time I entered a room, it would fall quiet for a couple of seconds, followed by frantic whispering. I knew that it would probably go on for a long time, after all - I had been the enemy. In the end, it was the bravery of two of their own who helped everyone else accept me."

_Even though the cafeteria was obviously crowded, Adria sat alone at her table, the only nearby presence was that of the two armed guards standing slightly behind her. As she contemplated the unappetising food on the plate in front of her, her isolation was interrupted by two men sitting down opposite her and placing down their own trays of dinner. "Hey, so did you really try to take over the universe?"_

_Smiling at the look of surprise that crossed the young woman's face, the taller of the two men punched his shorter friend's arm and grinned at Adria. "Ignore Walter, after years of running the Gateroom, he has lost all ability to ask an indirect question. It's all about getting as much information in as short a time as possible with him. Anyway, I'm Siler, this is Walter and I guess you're Adria, right?"_

_Thrown off by this direct approach after weeks of being ignored and avoided by the members of the SGC, Adria could only stare blankly and try to formulate a vaguely intelligent reply. "Um, yes, I'm Adria."_

"_Great, nice to meet you." As he and Walter both offered their hands for shaking, Adria shook herself out of her stupor. The conversation went fairly well after that, with Walter and Siler both trying to explain what life on Earth was like, and what Adria had been served for lunch._

"_I can't believe you won't eat the Jell-O! It's the only decent thing that they serve!"_

"_Sorry, Walter, but the way it moves when you try to eat it…it looks alive! I just can't!" Watching her new found friends play Paper Scissors Rock to determine who go to take her dessert, Adria smiled at their antics and hoped that maybe the friendship would last._

"Those two helped make my life on base easier. Since I couldn't leave, either through the gate or on the elevator, they helped keep me entertained and out of trouble. Well, out of most trouble."

_Watching the two people circling around each other in the training room, Adria was easily recognisable, clad in workout pants and a T-shirt with boxing gloves covering her hands. Sgt Siler was less recognisable with his chest and head encased by thick protective padding as well as the gloves. As they ducked and weaved around each other, throwing the occasional punch, a stilted conversation could be heard. "So, did you see the new photos that Mounse sent through from Atlantis?"_

_"Yeah, Walter showed me after lunch yesterday. I liked the one of the entire group, but who was the woman in the back with the dreads and the scowl?"_

_"According to the reports sent along in the data burst, it was Ronon. There was a slight incident with one of the Ancient machines that they found in the city. He was stuck that way for 3 days before McKay managed to reverse it."_

_"You're kidding!"_

_"Nope, Dr Keller's medical report backed it up. Wonder if he'll ever…?"_

_Sgt Siler's reply was cut off as an unexpectedly strong uppercut caught him on the chin and lifted him off his feet. Rushing to his side, Adria quickly stripped off her gloves to check on his condition._

_"Siler. Siler! Adam! Are you okay?"_

_A pained groan answered her as her friend shook himself back into awareness and took stock of his aches and pains. "I'm fine, but maybe we should quit for now. I'm not sure I can survive another hit just yet."_

_Helping her friend to his feet, she tucked herself under his arm and supported him out of the gym and towards the infirmary. A final "So… more padding next time?" floated back from down the corridor._

"Even with their friendship, it took about three months before everyone at the base learned to accept me. During that time, I learned how the base ran, and what everyone did. I helped out Siler when the gate broke down, and brought Walter coffee during the night shift. I was happy, but not fully content. When General Landry offered me a place on one of the teams, I took the offer, glad to be given the chance to see something other than the concrete walls of the base. At first, I was viewed with caution, but when I didn't purposely do anything to endanger my team, they grew to accept me and my assistance.

"Yesterday, we were on a diplomatic mission to establish possible trade relations with the people of Nullabour when they turned on us and attacked. I got separated from the team and told them to proceed through the Gate and notify General Landry of the situation. When I finally eluded my pursuers and followed through the Gate, I found myself here. And that is my story up until now. Any questions?"

**TBC…**

_AN: Oy. Now that this monster chapter is done, I can rest. I was watching 'The Road Not Taken' from SG1 season 10 the other day, and when Teal'c commented on having a sparring session with Sgt Siler, I couldn't resist adding a fight scene. In our next thrilling instalment of Relativity…more questions!_


	9. Finding Families

_AN: Before I begin this chapter, I should probably state that here in New Zealand, we have only seen up to series three of Atlantis (which sucks!!) and therefore I do not know if SGC still retains their ZPM that they had at the end of this series. I am working under the assumption that they do. _

Last time on Relativity…

"_Any questions?"_

_  
_

**Chapter 9: Finding Families**

"Yeah, I have a question. Where were we during all this?"

"Well Mitchell, this is where it gets tricky. You see, not everyone agreed with General Landry's decision. You were okay with it but you kept on picking random times to throw stuff at my head in order to check and see if I 'developed funky Ori powers.' Teal'c didn't exactly welcome me with open arms, but neither did he reject me. He would nod a greeting when we passed in the hallway, but it's not like we had in-depth discussions about being former bad guys. Sam kept on looking at me like I was a really interesting test sample, Daniel completely ignored me and Vala…well…watch."

_Attention drawn to the screen in front of them, everyone could see one of the ever-standard concrete hallways of SGC. Watching one dark-haired figure chasing after another dark-haired figure, they could sense the tension emanating from both women. "Mother! Mother, please will you wait! I need to talk to you!" _

_Whirling around to face her pursuer, Vala's eyes were cold and hard but glistening with unshed tears as she spat out her reply. "Don't you dare! You have no right to call me by that name."_

"_But you are my mo…"_

"_No! I was an incubator. A packing crate. A storage unit. I was never your mother." As Vala paused to wipe her eyes, Adria tried to interject, but was stopped before beginning. "Those ascended bastards put you in me without warning. I carried you for nine months, scared and hopeful at the same time, not knowing where this baby had come from, but thankful that it was there. Praying that I wouldn't be like my father and that I would be a good parent. And then, when my baby was born, I never even got to hold it. They took it from me and the next thing I knew, my baby didn't exist. She had been replaced by a child, already walking and talking and spouting religious propaganda, without having had anything to do with me. So no, I am not your mother and you are not my daughter. My daughter died the day you were born."_

_Adria stood frozen as Vala turned away and almost ran down the hall. As the last glimpse of her disappeared around the corner, Adria's legs gave way and she crumpled to the floor, sobs shaking her slight frame. She was unaware of the panicked looks shooting between her two guards and she also missed the relief that crossed their faces upon seeing the person approaching from the opposite end of the corridor. "Adria? What's wrong? What did you two do to her?"_

"_Nothing, ma'am. There was a…encounter between herself and Mrs Jackson, and …well…"_

_His stammering answer was interrupted by Adria trying to explain what had happened. "I just wanted (sniff) talk to her about me being here and she said that I (sob), I was dead to her…" Any further explanation faded out under the fresh onslaught of tears._

_Understanding the situation, Dr Lam crouched down beside the crying woman and, placing a comforting hand on her back, she addressed her with the tone normally reserved for hysterical children. "Adria? C'mon Adria, we need to get you up off this cold floor. Do you want to come with me to the infirmary?" _

_Taking the faint nod as agreement, Carolyn draped her arm around the younger woman's shoulders and started walking her in the direction of the infirmary. Pausing to address one of Adria's guards, she sent him down to the cafeteria to get some of 'Dr Lam's Miracle Cure.' When Adria queried her through her sniffles about this Miracle Cure, Dr Lam smiled as she replied "I'm guessing that in the week that you have been on this planet, you have not yet been introduced to the therapeutic qualities of triple chocolate brownie fudge ripple ice-cream?"_

As Vala stared at the image of Adria being comforted by Dr Lam, she knew that she had to speak up. "It's true. What the other me said, it's all true. That's how I feel." Turning to face Adria, still confined in the chair, Vala looked her steadily in the eyes as she elaborated on her statement. "I'm guessing that in your future, you managed to sort things out to the point where it was okay for you to call me 'Mother' again but I don't know if that will ever happen in this reality."

As sadness and acceptance ran through her at the same time, Adria nodded her head slightly. "I know. The reason that you did end up accepting me is tied into the reason that the other members of SG1 didn't feature in my early months at the SGC. Just a couple of days after Walter, Siler and I had lunch together for the first time, about three months after I had arrived, Sam returned to Atlantis as the expedition leader. Daniel accompanied as he wanted to study some of the Ancient database and Mitchell went as well, mainly because he was bugging General Landry with all of his complaining about losing his team members to another galaxy. Vala, you stayed back because on the day of departure you weren't feeling well and Dr Lam didn't want to risk spreading illness amongst the inhabitants of another galaxy…"

_Sitting next to Walter in the Control Room, Adria silently observed the farewells happening below. As Vala embraced Sam and whispered something in her ear that brought smiles to the blond woman's face, Adria wished that she were the one going to a different galaxy. There, at least, no-one knew who she was._

"_Ready to begin dialling sequence." As Walter switched off the microphone, he settled back in his chair and swivelled to face Adria with a grin on his face. "Much as I like them, it's always a little easier to breathe when SG1 is off base. It seems to lessen the risk of our being invaded."_

"_Admit it. You love strapping on a P90 and playing hero!"_

"_Only if there is an entire squadron of marines nearby and I'm not giving the orders!"_

_Distracted from their conversation by various beeps, Walter turned back to his computer. As he called out that the third chevron was locked, Adria watched as Daniel and Vala embraced one last time before he departed for Atlantis. After a final round of hugs, handshakes and last minute orders, the shimmering blue of an open wormhole lit up the embarkation area and the majority of SG1 stepped through and disappeared._

"_So… coffee?"_

"It was about one week after they arrived on Atlantis that we received the message that both Daniel and Mitchell had been abducted by unknown aggressors when on an off-world mission. A couple of days after that was when my relationship with Vala started to change."

Walking down the hallway and unconsciously humming the rather stupid tune that had been stuck in her head all day, Adria was startled to hear sobbing coming from the women's bathroom as she walked past it. Tentatively pushing open the door and poking her head around, the sobbing became more pronounced and she felt obliged to check and see if the unknown woman was all right. As she quietly walked past the cubicles, she was surprised to find Vala kneeling on the floor of the last cubicle, obviously unwell and crying her eyes out.

"_Mot...Val...Mrs Jackson, are you okay? Do you want me to fetch Dr Lam?"_

_Pushing her hair out of her eyes, Vala stared unseeingly at her and started to giggle hysterically through the tears. "No, no, I was just there. No need to see Dr Lam at all!"_

"_Umm, I'm not to sure about that."_

"_Oh I am. Besides, every time I see her, something in my life changes. This time I found out that I am pregnant just when my husband is missing and presumed dead in another galaxy and I can't do anything to help find him!" With that, the giggles ceased and the sobbing returned. _

_Having never been in this kind of situation before, Adria was completely helpless and unknowing of what to do. Realising that just standing there and staring at the crying woman was not the compassionate thing to do, she crouched down next to her and placed a hopefully comforting arm around her shoulders. As Vala turned her head into Adria's shoulder and cried even more, Adria marvelled at the reversal of the traditional roles between mother and child. The sobs soon diminished and Vala began to calm herself, so Adria reached over and took some toilet paper from the holder for Vala to wipe her eyes and nose with. _

"_Look. I know that I am probably the last person that you want to have seen you like this, but that can't be helped now. I can tell you however that Dr Jackson has disappeared before and he has always come back. Not only that, but before he only had his friends to come back to. Now he has a wife and a future child as well. He will be back. Now I know that you have already seen Dr Lam today, but I think that this warrants a second visit in order to have some of her Miracle Cure. This is the perfect situation for some ice-cream."_

_As Adria helped Vala stand on slightly unsteady legs, and walked her out of the room towards the infirmary, Vala turned to her with questioning eyes. "Why are you helping me? I wasn't nice to you so why are you nice to me?"_

"_Because even though you don't consider me as your daughter, to me you are still my mother. I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, but I can't change the way that I feel about that."_

"_Maybe we should try being friends first."_

"_Maybe."_

_And with slight smiles on their faces the two carried on towards the infirmary, intent on sharing ice-cream and comfort with their friends._

"After that, I helped out Vala whenever I could. Considering that her husband was missing along with one best friend, and of her two other best friends, one was trying to help run the government of his people and the other was in another galaxy, there was a lot that I was able to do, especially considering that I was restricted to base. It was through this that I was able to meet a rather interesting person."

_As Adria entered the infirmary, intent on picking up Vala's forgotten prenatal vitamins, she was halted in her steps by a piercing wolf-whistle and a comment of "Who's the babe?" coming from a bed in the corner. Turning to face the young man who was lazing on the bed with a couple of monitoring devices strapped to his arm, she put her best 'Bow Before Me, Minion' look on her face and in the coldest voice manageable, prepared to cut him down to size._

_"I'm sure that on whichever planet you originated from, basic manners where taught from a fairly young age. Such a pity that you are obviously too stupid for the lessons to have sunk in. Just who the hell do you think you are?"_

_As an easy grin stretched across his face, a sparkle entered his eye as he sat up slightly and replied confidently "Well ma'am, I am Jonathon O'Neill, the de-aged (and rather more handsome) clone of the commander of Homeworld Security, retaining all of his memories and skills, brought about by interfering aliens and currently attending college. You?"_

_Expecting a blank look or a stammering reply, he was instead surprised by the young woman. "I am Adria, the mortal incarnation of ascended beings and was the formerly God-like ruler of the Ori Army, before dying, ascending and subsequently descending back into human form, and am now residing at the SGC until they figure out what to do with me."_

_After a moments silence, Jon seemed to come to a decision. "You win. But only because of the God-like powers. I beat you in the rest."_

_Smiling as she reached over to shake his hand in greetings, Adria felt that she could add another friend to her rather short_ _list._

"Jon and I stayed friends for the rest of my time at the SGC. He had only been stopping in for his yearly check-up, but when he found out that Vala was pregnant and that Daniel had disappeared, he offered to help out any way he could. Of course since he was cleared for travel outside of the base and I wasn't, this meant having to take her shopping at the drop of a hat and trying to comfort her when the clothes she tried on no longer fitted, but he managed to take it in his stride. When I was placed with SG9 and had to go on off-world missions he, along with Walter and Siler, helped take over more in looking after Vala. He was the one who asked me to be notified when it happened."

_To the onlookers, the scene was very familiar. The planet could have been one out of the hundreds they had visited, the same birds, the same trees, even the same small village with the similarly attired villagers. The members of SG9 were easily recognisable, clad in their BDU's and P90's attached to their vests, but there was no air of danger and everyone was relaxed and friendly. As Major Southern scanned the group, he was happy with the way that this contact situation was proceeding._

_"Major Southern, this is Stargate Command. Please respond."_

_"Southern here, go ahead Stargate Command."_

_"Major, General Landry has requested that Adria return to base. Please send her through as soon as possible."_

_"Roger that Stargate Command. Sending her back now. Southern out."_

_Walking quickly over to his team's newest member, Major Southern quietly extracted her from the group of children surrounding her and informed her of her new orders._

_As Adria stepped back into the Gateroom, she sent a questioning glance up towards the Control Room. Noting her safe arrival, Walter activated the microphone. "Dr Lam has requested your presence in the infirmary. It's time."_

_Forgoing the normal post-mission protocols, Adria instead opted to drop her Tac vest and weaponry into the waiting hands of a Gateroom defence member and sprinted towards the infirmary. Bursting through the door, she was greeted with the sight of a panicking Jon O'Neill and a (rather creatively) swearing Vala Jackson._

_"It's about time you got here!"_

_Unsure of which panicked voice had uttered the statement first, Adria moved to her mother's side and taking her hand, offered apologies and to wipe her forehead._

_"Adria, I have seen things that I am sure I was never meant to see, and for that I may never forgive you for being off-world. I'm going to wait outside!"_

_Yelling "Coward!" after Jon's retreating back, Adria promptly forgot about the young clone's comment as she focussed on helping Vala through her ordeal. It took almost nine hours, but when Dr Lam placed the youngest Jackson on his mothers' stomach, Adria felt the strongest surge of happiness, protectiveness and love running through her. "Congratulations, Vala. You have a son!"_

_Watching an exhausted Vala carefully counting her new-borns' fingers and toes, and staring into his unfocussed eyes, Adria started to feel like an intruder in a private moment. But as she started to stand up and leave the two of them alone, a quiet "Stay" halted her._

_Turning to Vala with a questioning look in her eyes, she was greeted by a luminous smile. "Adria, I want you to meet David Nicholas Jackson. Davy, meet your big sister, Adria."_

_As the importance of her mothers' words sank in, a matching smile crossed her face and she rushed to her mothers' bedside and embraced her, careful not to squash her new baby brother. "Thank you."_

"Davy quickly became the base mascot, with no lack of babysitters or people to hold him if he started crying. The only thing missing from the happiness was his father and honorary uncle. They had been gone for almost a year before we heard any news of them. Where Atlantis had originally thought that the Wraith or a Replicator cell had captured them, it turns out that they had been hostages of the Genii for the entire time. Laden's sister had discovered that her brother's people were holding them hostage in order to extract information about the Ancients and any Ancient technology they might know about. Going against her brother was one of the hardest things that she could have done, but Dr Beckett had saved her life, and Dahlia felt that what Laden was doing was wrong and must be stopped. She managed to contact Atlantis and pass on intelligence that led to Daniel and Cameron being freed. Of course, our shaky alliance with the Genii became non-existent after that, but for the people at the SGC, no one really cared. We had our people back."

_The members of SG9 were awaiting departure in the embarkation room, checking their equipment and in the case of Adria, saying farewell to her mother and baby brother. Addressing her younger sibling in a mock-serious tone, she explained to him his responsibilities. "Now Davy, you have to look after your mother, and make sure that she looks after you. If this means crying at three o'clock in the morning, I give you permission to go right ahead."_

_"Thank you darling. I sure that he needed your express permission to do just that!"_

_Smiling at the tone of Vala's voice, Adria extended her arms towards the baby. "Okay then, one last cuddle before we go."_

_Embracing her brother, she was suddenly made aware of the dialling noise of the Gate. Turning towards Walter with a questioning look, she was answered by the call of "Unscheduled Off World Activation!"_

_Hurrying towards the safe areas near the blast doors, SG9 and Vala awaited the call of whether it was safe to remain in the Gateroom or not. "Receiving IDC. It's Atlantis!"_

_Sam Carters' voice could be heard over the radio connection between the two galaxies, and the people who knew her best could detect a happy tone to her voice._

_"General Landry, Sir. I have a special delivery from the Pegasus Galaxy for yourself and Vala Jackson. Do you wish to accept the package sir?"_

_As Vala turned hopeful eyes towards the stoic General, he stood taller and replied "Send it through, Colonel."_

_"Yes sir!"_

_And with that, the long missed figures of Dr Daniel Jackson and Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell stepped through the event horizon._

_With a cry of elation, Vala left the safe zone and sprinted towards her husband. As they whole-heartedly embraced for the first time in nearly a year, the only dry eye in the room was that of young Davy Jackson who had slept through the momentous occasion. As Vala and Daniel slowly came back to the reality that they were standing in the middle of the Gateroom, they kept in contact with each other as they made their way down the ramp. Releasing her husband only to give Cameron a welcoming hug, she quickly wrapped her arm back around her husband as she led him over to SG9._

_"Darling, there is someone I want you to meet. This is your son, David Nicholas Jackson."_

_Watching as a stunned Daniel Jackson took his baby son in his arms for the first time, Adria was distracted my Mitchell muttering "…Carter had a photo in her office. Never said who he was…"_

_Watching the newly re-united family leave the Gateroom together and Mitchell be dragged toward the infirmary by Dr Lam, her smile remained as Major Southern announcing that "They still had a mission to proceed with so SG9 get ready to move out!"_

_And as she stepped through the blue puddle, she knew that it was going to be a good day._

"So that is what happened to SG1. Everyone was together, and until I departed, everyone was healthy and well. Daniel, Vala and Davy lived off base but they bring him in with them to stay with Dr Lam whenever they have a mission, which was why I was so surprised to see them without him when I arrived."

Sitting there and watching the reality of their possible future lives sink in to Daniel and Vala, as well as seeing the others watching the exact same thing, Adria couldn't take the tense silence for much longer (she was her mother's daughter after all).

"So…let me guess. More questions?"

**TBC…**

_AN: Thank goodness that this chapter is over. I have been dreading writing this one for a while. Please note that I have no experience of the child-birth process, so if anyone thinks that the scene was too short or there wasn't enough detail…that was something that I was not going to research so tough luck! As far as I can tell, there will only be two more chapters so next chapter, a couple of final questions._


	10. The Big Question

**Chapter 10: The Big Question**

"Wait a minute, before we start again I have a question for you guys. Does anyone have any ideas as to why I ended up here?"

As everyone turned with expectant looks towards Sam, she sighed in a resigned manner and rubbed her forehead with a weary hand. "I never expected to say this, but I completely agree with McKay about always having to provide the answers." Lowering her hand, she straightened up and carried on with her comment. "But as it turns out, I do have an idea about what happened. I'm just waiting to hear back from NORAD about some information before I can confirm it. In the meantime, I have a question of my own."

"Go ahead, Colonel Carter."

With a wicked smile Samantha Carter posed the question that one particular member of SG1 had been dreading. "What exactly is Mitchell's middle name?"

The man in question lunged forward with a frantic "No!" on his lips, but he was too late as the Memory Recall device flared to life. It showed an extremely annoyed Adria bursting out of her room and holding a bottle of what appeared to be shampoo. The reason behind her annoyance was clearly visible as her hair was no longer her usual brunette, but instead was a shocking shade of red. "CAMERON ALBERT GROVER MITCHELL!! When I get my hands on you there will be vengeance!! And there will be photographic proof of the vengeance!!"

Watching the image of the former Orici stalk down the corridor towards the Gateroom, the occupants of the interrogation room seemed to pause for a second before simultaneously looking towards the embarrassed Lt Colonel. "Albert Grover?"

"You're named after a furry blue coward from a children's programme?"

Vala, how do you know about Sesame Street?"

"Mitchell, I spent my first couple of months on this planet restricted to base and bored out of my skull. Of course I know about daytime television characters."

"For your information, I'm named after both my Grandfathers, and I really don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Okay then…Grover."

Ignoring the snickers of the other people in the room, Adria kept her face impassive as she raised her voice slightly. "So…any more questions? Anyone? Anyone at all?"

Watching the people in front of her wracking their brains in order to think of a question that might give them more helpful information, she was relieved when all of them seemed to come up blank.

All of them except for Teal'c.

"Why were you so surprised in the Gateroom when you saw Sgt Siler?"

Taking a moment to compose herself, Adria cleared her throat and started to speak. "I guess that I should start this story at the beginning. I had thought that the first time I met Sgt Adam Siler was two months after I arrived at the SGC when he and Walter Harriman sat down opposite me in the cafeteria. I was wrong."

_Adria was bored. In the months that she had been at the SGC, she had learnt all that was permitted of Earth culture. She had studied the English language in order to be able to read the books in the base library. She had even started watching TV and was now unavoidably hooked on finding out what will happen next to Timmy on 'Passions'. And even though she had complained about being followed by security everywhere, once they were gone, she had lost her targets for mocking comments and awkward questions. She was now reduced to asking various people if they needed help with the menial tasks around the base and, sad to say, she was perfectly happy to be checking the radio earpieces to make sure that they were in working order. _

_Tuning in to the maintenance channel, she was able to check their status as well as eavesdrop on the technicians who were working on the various power stations around the base. As she heard her friend speaking in the tone of authority that came with his role at the SGC, she smiled at the difference between the serious and intent Sgt Siler, and the relaxed and casual Adam who always tried to steal her dessert._

"…_Okay, we are set for go on the power test. I need all sections to report back in order on the status. Initialising power-up…now."_

"_White Knight, Section one is green."_

"…_Guys."_

"_White Knight, Section two is green."_

"_..Are you ever going…"_

"_White Knight, Section three is green."_

"…_to stop calling…"_

"_White Knight. Section four is green."_

"…_me that?"_

"_White Knight, Section five is green."_

"_I guess not."_

"_White Knight, confirmation that all sections are green and running fine. And no sir, we are never going to stop calling you that."_

"_Nice to know guys. I'm going to finish the rest of the test from the control room. Contact me through Walter if you need anything. Siler out."_

"…_Why is he called White Knight?"_

"_Is that you, Smith?"_

"_Yeah. I never heard the story behind it and was just wondering."_

"_Well, when our newest resident alien landed in the SGC, guess who was the one to call for help and to cover her up with his uniform jacket?"_

"_Sgt Siler?"_

"_Two points to the new guy. And when the video footage of her naked arrival started circulating around the grunts and goons of the base, guess who discovered it and threatened virtually everyone with court-martial unless every copy was deleted?"_

"_Siler again?"_

"_You got it. So since the sergeant is a regular White Knight riding in to save the damsel in distress, why not call him that!"_

"_That's really nice, sir."  
_

"_Jeez Smith, what are you, a teenage girl?"_

_As the heckling of the unfortunate new Gate Tech continued, Adria tuned out of the conversation with a soft smile on her face. _

_Later that evening, when Walter and Siler showed up for the 'Bad B Movie Marathon', starting with one called 'Invasion of the Martian Mice', one of the first things she did (after checking that they had brought the popcorn) was to hug Siler. "What was that for?"_

"_For being my White Knight."_

"After that, friendship turned to affection, turned to feelings and finally turned to…love. He was one of the few that didn't judge me at all for my past, and he was the strongest man I could have ever met. There were some tough moments in my life, and every time he helped me pull through."

_The scene was familiar, though one that every member of the SGC dreaded seeing. The stretcher borne between the commanding officer and the second in command of SG9 was covered with a sheet, indicating that one of their own had not made it home alive. Adria was the last one through the Gate, and as the blue puddle flashed out of existence, it seemed to signal for her to break down in tears. Sobbing desolately, she was soon gathered into the familiar embrace of her first friend, and as she cried into Siler's arms, it was all he could to hold them both upright. Guiding them towards the exit, he whispered quiet words of comfort into her ears, knowing that it would not help right now, but also knowing that she needed to hear them._

"We were together for two years, and after I got permission to exit the base, we decided to move in together. We were happy. And then one day, when he was picking up our takeaway food for dinner, a driver lost control on a patch of ice and Adam was…gone."

Everyone looked up in shock at the quiet statement. Realising that Adria was speaking with all truth and honesty, and that even though she was composed and calm on the outside, on the inside the pain was as fresh as the day that it happened, they remained quiet and let her continue.

"I didn't function very well for a long time after that. For a while, it was the hardest thing in the world, just to get up in the morning and get dressed. But I did. And then, after a while, it got a little easier to breathe. Soon after that, it didn't always hurt so badly. I managed to get back to a functioning level, mainly through the help of Walter and the other friends I had made, but I never forgot about him. Even now, I sometimes expect to turn a corridor at the SGC and see him trying to fix a pipe with that ridiculous wrench, and when I don't see him, it rips my heart out all over again. But I can also remember him smiling at me when I have a stupid question about Earth culture, or hear him singing off-key in the shower, and instead of crying, I smile and sing along."

Unable to wipe the tears off her cheeks, Adria had to settle for sniffing softly and sitting higher in her seat. "So Teal'c, hopefully that answers your question. When I saw him here, I just couldn't believe that it was really him. When it finally clicked that it wasn't just a hallucination, I couldn't cope, so I fainted. Not very dignified, I know, but other than Jackson here, I don't know very many people who come back from the dead."

Before anyone else could comment, a quiet knock interrupted the still of the room. As Dr Lee poked his head around the door and motioned for Colonel Carter to follow him out to the hallway, the rest of SG1 composed themselves and in a couple of cases wiped their eyes. General Landry approached the bound girl and with a quiet "May I?" and her grateful nod, proceeded to gently wipe the tear tracks from her cheeks. When Sam re-entered the room, it was to a quiet group that quickly noticed the frown that had developed on her forehead.

"What is it, Colonel Carter?"

"Well sir, as you know, I asked NORAD to check out something for me. In the past where a SGC team has encountered either a time-travel or an alternate dimension scenario, it is because something has interrupted the wormhole path between worlds, for example a solar flare, or in the case of that team that did it purposely, a set explosion. I asked NORAD to check the path that the wormhole would have travelled between Earth and the planet that Adria's team were on, and …well…they found something."

Moving over toward the data screen set up in the corner of the room, Sam flicked it on and inserted a data card into the slot. As the screen lit up with a star chart display, the people in the room could recognise Earth by the symbol beside it. Sam highlighted the planet that Adria had arrived from and drew in the pathway between. "Sir, it looks like in the short time between the rest of her team dialling out, and Adria dialling out herself, this star here went supernova. Normally the wormhole protocols contained within the DHD would prevent a lock because of this, but Dr Lee and the others believe that the explosion had not reached a level that would impact on the wormhole at the time of dialling, but escalated by the time Adria stepped through. The energy behind the explosion was enough to…twist…the wormhole and she ended up here."

"Great. So now we know how Alice ended up in Wonderland, any idea how she can get back home? Do I have to fight the Red Queen, or is it a case of clicking my heels together three times?"

"I'm sorry Adria, but it's not that simple. In the past we have managed to reverse the occurrence through either the solar flare for the time travel, or a strategic explosion for the dimension hopping. But the energy from the explosion that caused your trip…we have no way to re-create that. And even if we could, we couldn't safely contain it. It would probably destroy Earth if we tried. I'm sorry…there's nothing we can to do send you home."

As Adria slumped in her chair in utter defeat, the rest of the onlookers were ready to join her in her misery. For her to have gone through all that she had and to have used up so much energy and emotion in order to tell her story, and then for her to not have the chance to return to her home was heartbreaking.

But just as General Landry was about to call his people to leave the room to discuss the situation, something happened. Suddenly, a corner of the room lit up with a bright white light, and a voice calmly stated "You may not be able to send her home, but I believe I can."

As the gathered people stared at the shining figure in complete and utter disbelief, Cameron Mitchell seemed to sum up the general feeling in the room when he quietly uttered "You have got to be kidding me!"

**TBC…**

_AN: ducks various objects being thrown at her for having killed off Siler_

_I'm sorry! I love him just as much as everyone else, but it was important to the story! Please don't hurt me! Whimpers Please?!_

_Anyway, just a little bit of housekeeping. I do not own Sesame Street or (as previously mentioned) Alice in Wonderland, and Timmy and 'Passions' belong to Joss Whedon (though Spike would probably claim ownership). Next chapter will be the final chapter, and I will be accepting guesses for exactly who the shining figure is. Cookie to you if you get it right!_


	11. The Big Answer

_AN: Before I start, I owe Eternal Density a cookie. You may choose between either a double chocolate chip or an oatmeal raisin cookie. I know which one I would choose!_

Previously on Relativity:

"_You have got to be kidding me."_

**Chapter 11: The Big Answer**

As everyone else in the room gaped at the figure that had appeared in the corner, Adria, who was constrained by the chair, was reduced to craning her head around in an attempt to see what the others saw.

"What? What is it?! Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?!"

As the unknown figure stepped around the chair and approached her from the front, Adria realised why the others had been struck dumb.

"I…but…wha…but…"

"My, such intelligent conversation skills. How can I possibly keep up?"

"But…you're me!"

"Not quite, but close enough."

And with that Ascended Adria smiled at her human counterpart and sat down on the edge of the table.

"So, you're what I would have become had I chosen differently. Well, I must say that I quite like the attitude, though your clothing choice leaves a bit to be desired."

"Sorry about that, but the military doesn't buy its BDU's at 'Ascended'R'Us'."

"Maybe I was a little bit hasty with the attitude assessment."

"Not to interrupt this witty repartee, but would you please mind explaining exactly who the hell you are and why you decided to enter my base uninvited and without permission?!"

Facing an irate General Landry, Ascended Adria pasted a pleasant, (though rather false) smile on her face and in the tones of an adult talking to a small child, she answered him. "Well, General Landry, I am the Adria of your reality. Like my restrained doppelganger here, I was offered the choice to either accept a lower ascension, or to return to humanity. Unlike her though, I chose ascension." Turning back to the Human Adria, Ascended Adria dropped the patronising act and addressed her with all seriousness. "I was watching over the cosmos in general and checking up on matters when I felt the disturbance of your arrival. I must say that I am impressed that you managed to arrive without ripping a hole in reality or even destroying one of the in-between realities. It was one hell of a lucky trip for you."

"Oh yeah, real lucky. I am stuck in an alternate reality, away from my family and friends with no way home. I'm the luckiest girl in the world."

"And as I said when I arrived, I can help you with that."

"Wait a minute, I though you couldn't interfere. That it was against the Ascended Rules."

Turning towards Mitchell, Ascended Adria smirked in reply "Yes, there are rules, but as you may have discovered in your rather short lifetime, there are always exceptions to the rules, and your little guest here is one of them."

Ignoring the outburst of 'Little!' coming from behind her, Ascended Adria slipped into a lecture mode very similar to that of Sam Carter's as she started to explain the situation. "Ascended beings are not permitted to interfere with the mortal lives within their assigned reality. Adria here is not from my assigned reality. But even with that loophole, I am not permitted to assist you in returning her to her correct reality unless every avenue and option open to you mortals is exhausted. Once you came to the conclusion that you were unable to return her on your own, I was able to step in and announce my presence and ability."

"Don't you just love the way she makes 'you mortals' sound like an insult?"

Ignoring the Vala's snickering at Sam's comment, Ascended Adria's attention was claimed by Human Adria.

"Wait a minute. You let me sit here in this chair for hours, stuck and unable to move, forced to recount some of the most painful memories that I have, when you could have stepped in at any time but didn't because of a technicality?"

"Yes."

"Okay that's it, you're the evil twin. No arguments."

"Stop complaining. Now, let's get you out of that chair. It obviously does little to help your posture."

With a wave of her hand, the shackles on the chair unlocked themselves and retracted into the arms. Rubbing her wrists tentatively, Adria eyed her ascended counterpart with caution and stated quietly "I don't know why but I felt safer with them on."

"Oh come on now, let's get you back home."

Still eyeing the ascended being with caution, Human Adria stayed put in her chair. "How do I know that you're really going to send me home? For all I know you could end up dumping me on an uninhabitable planet with a broken DHD."

"Why do you insist on doubting me? I am you!"

"No, you are Ascended me, and I remember what Oma said about the possibility of Ascended me turning back to the Ori ways. How can I trust you?"

Sadness briefly appeared in the ascended girl's eyes before it was pushed back by her seemingly endless arrogance. "How can you not? In a short while Entropic Cascade Failure will set in and your body will be ripped into its individual atoms. If you wish to survive, you must trust me. I'm sorry that I can make no further guarantees than that."

"So my choices are 1: Die a horrible painful death here. 2: Trust you and possibly die a horrible painful death on an unknown planet. 3: Trust you and get sent home. How will I choose between them?" The sarcasm faded from Human Adria's tone and she sighed in resignation. "I choose life."

"Well now that you've finally come to that terribly difficult decision, can we please get on with your departure? General Landry, if we may be escorted up to your Gateroom, I would certainly appreciate it. I will need most of my spare energy to activate the wormhole and can't waste it shifting us up there on my own."

"You mean you are giving me a choice before taking over my facility? My, what a change."

"Sarcasm is unbecoming, dear General, but in this situation, it is forgivable. If we may depart now?"

"Go ahead" And with that, General Landry motioned for the group to exit the room ahead of him.

Entering the Gateroom, Adria was shocked but unsurprised to see Sgt Siler checking readouts from the Gate. Purposely turning her back on the welcome sight he provided, she addressed her ascended twin, eyes pleading for a distraction. "So how does this work. Does Walter dial up a special code, or do we just grab an extension cord and plug you in?"

Giving her an annoyed glance, Ascended Adria shook her head and replied. "No, you will not need the extension cord. I will simply initiate the wormhole and boost it in order to reach your reality. If you have any final comments for the people of this reality, you should make them now. I will initialise the wormhole soon." Turning towards the Gate she called out to the spectacled man standing near the Gate. "Sgt Siler. You may want to step away from the Gate before I activate it."

Facing the group of people that had surrounded her since the beginning of this ordeal, Adria could only think of one thing to say. "Well, I would say it's been fun, but I've been strapped to a chair and interrogated for a couple of hours so…I won't. Take care of each other, because I don't trust Arrogant Ascended Me to do it for you." At this point Adria paused, ignoring the quiet 'Hey!' that Ascended Adria couldn't suppress. "There is one thing I need to do before I leave."

Sgt Adam Siler had spent the afternoon checking the Gate to see if there was a mechanical reason behind the strange woman's arrival and while he had run through the various checking protocols on his computer, his imagination had run through several scenarios, ranging from lost traveller to pre-invasion strike. However, he had never expected to be approached by the aforementioned arrival. To see her walking towards him with an intent look in her eyes scared him slightly and he could only stand in place and stare like a startled animal as she reached him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"I know that you don't know me, but believe me when I tell you that in my reality, you are important to so many people. You have friends, you have family, you are loved, and you are missed." With that, she leaned a little closer and gently kissed him, a kiss that while being restrained due to their audience, was still filled with love and longing.

As surprised and dazed as he was, Siler didn't notice Adria pulling away until she had left the embrace of the arms he had unconsciously raised to encircle her. As the stranger stared into his confused eyes, Adam got the feeling that he should know who she was, but he was also sure that he had never seen her before. With a quiet "Good-bye, Adam" she turned back to the group that stood at the base of the ramp and addressed what appeared to be her identical twin. "So, are you going to dial home or are you just going to stand there glowing?"

Smirking as her casual comment appeared to get under Ascended Adria's skin, Adria was grateful when her counterpart didn't draw any attention to the scene she had just witnessed. Instead, with a quick glower at the impertinent human before her and with overly dramatic flair, she clicked her fingers and a wormhole snapped open in the Stargate without the usual 'kwoosh' to accompany it. With a smirk of her own, Ascended Adria motioned for Human Adria to step through.

Pausing before the threshold of the event horizon, Adria felt a flash of fear. "Are you sure this will send me home?"

"Yes."

"Really sure?"

"Yes."

"'Cause I don't want to end up on a planet somewhere…"

"Oh for goodness sake! Will you just step through the damned puddle! I have better things to do then be stuck here listening to you stutter!"

Turning to face the ascended being, Adria tried to find the right words. "…Listen, I'm…I'm sorry about that, I just…well…thanks. Thanks for letting me go home and…well…" trailing off as she and Ascended Adria shared a small smile, Adria composed herself and carried on. "…well…thanks for being the evil twin!" And as she grinned at the look of shock that crossed Ascended Adria's face, Human Adria darted through the gate at out of the reality that she didn't belong to.

"Of all the ungratefull, unfeeling, rude things…" Ascended Adria's voice faded out as the gentle glow that enveloped her grew in brightness and her image transferred to the ball of bright energy that was her natural state. As the people that crowded the Gateroom watched the ascended being rise up through the roof of the room and disappear from sight, a sigh seemed to ripple around the various personnel.

"You know, the fact that she's meant to be watching over us isn't exactly a comforting thought."

Sharing a resigned look with Mitchell, General Landry simply shook his head and turned towards the exit. "Briefing in my office in twenty minutes. I want to go over any possible intel that we might have gained from our …guests."

Watching as Teal'c and Mitchell exited the room, followed by Carter muttering something along the lines of "…wonder how much power she fed into the Gate? Maybe I should check the readouts…" Vala and Daniel were left in the Gateroom with Sgt Siler. As they both turned and stared at the place they had last seen the former Orici, they unknowingly stepped closer to each other, lost in their individual thoughts.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Vala was the first to return to reality. Turning to face the still stunned Sgt Siler, a look of mischief appeared and she asked one question that she never thought she would get the chance to ask.

"So, Sgt Siler…what exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?"

**FIN!!**

_AN: Okay, so not completely finished as there will be a short epilogue and I am planning a one-shot for SGA based on the Adria-verse, but I am finished with the bulk of this! Yay!! 'I choose life' comes from Ice Age but the rest of this chapter is mine. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review my piece of fiction, the ego boost is always appreciated. This fic will hopefully teach me to fully plot my stories before I start them. It was only meant to be a couple of chapters, but with all of the details that kept on popping up, I had to keep on adding chapters. Oh well._


	12. Epilogue

_AN: Before I start this, I do have to say thank you to all the fabulous people who reviewed, especially Eternal Density, acer-sigma, Harm Marie, HAZMOT and spacegypsy1 whose questions and comments helped me tidy up so many story points. You guys rock!_

**Epilogue: There's no place like home, but there's a couple of places that look like it…**

When SG9 had stumbled through the Gate, running from enemy fire and obviously distraught, one of the first things that General Landry had asked about was their missing team member. Finding out that Adria had been separated from the group and had told them to escape while they still could, Landry immediately ordered a squadron to gear up and get ready to extract one of their own who had been left behind. It was therefore to everyone's great distress that when Walter tried to dial the planet back, he was unable to get a lock.

Quickly figuring out the problem and mapping a route around the supernova using a couple of different Stargates, the squadron arrived to find the area around the Stargate mostly deserted. Capturing the guard that the complacent villagers had left to monitor the Gate, they interrogated him only to find that he had clearly seen Adria enter the wormhole and depart the planet. Understandably upset at hearing this unwelcome information, they returned to the SGC and notified General Landry of what they had learnt.

"So, even though we have looked into every possible avenue, and we have run countless tests on the Gate, we still have no clue what happened to Adria?"

Turning away from the window overlooking the Gateroom, General Landry turned to face the assembled scientists. Nominated by the group using the tried and true method of a solid kick to the ankle, Dr Felger was the unwilling spokesperson. "I'm sorry sir, but the analysis of the Gate on Nullabour shows that a stable wormhole was created, but our Gate never activated. All of our research points to the fact that the wormhole was intercepted during its creation and that most likely anything that travelled through it…wouldn't survive."

"So you're saying that there's no hope."

"Not necessarily sir. Some of us think that the supernova's energy may warp the wormhole to a different destination, just not in our galaxy. If you recall when all those alternate SG1's came through the gate seven years ago, the initialising factor in the inter-dimensional travel was a large scale explosion. It could be that Adria landed in an alternate reality, but if that's true, we are unlikely to ever see her again. The energy needed to reverse the initial wormhole is too much for any current technology to…"

"_Unscheduled Off-World Activation!"_

Heading down the spiral staircase and entering the control room at speed, Landry looked towards Walter for answers.

"No IDC received sir, but we are reading a stronger than usual energy surge."

"Close the Iris."

Moving to operate the relevant controls, Walter was dismayed at the unexpected result.

"Iris controls are not responding sir!"

Ignoring the momentary flash of panic that raced through him, General Landry activated the comms system. "Defence teams at the ready!" Watching the men below raise their guns into position and prepare themselves for a possible attack, Hank felt the all too familiar tension rise.

Tension that dissipated upon seeing the familiar figure of the missing SG9 member step out of the blue puddle. Watching Adria as her eyes darted to the blast mark on the wall, and then towards the wrench that hung from the bottom-most chevron of the gate in memory of Sgt Siler, General Landry saw her eyes light up in relief.

"She did it! I'm back!"

Reaching towards the intercom with the intention of ordering the Defence team to stand down, General Landry was shocked to find that for the first time that he knew of, Master Sgt Walter Harriman had deserted his post. Turning to watch the shorter man race out of the room and down to the Gateroom floor, he smiled to see him duck between two gun-wielding marines and rush up the ramp to hug Adria as hard as he was able to.

"You're back! You're alive! You're back!!"

"I know, Walter. It's great to see you to!"

"Don't you ever do that again! You were missing for seven hours and no-one could figure out a way to get you back and I didn't want to be the one to tell him..."

"Walter! Walter, stop and breathe! I'm back and I'm fine!"

"As appreciative as we are of that fact, would you mind telling me where you went and how you managed to return?"

Facing the Base Commander who had entered the room while Walter's greeting had distracted her, Adria smiled at the General. "Well sir, Alternate Ascended Me sent me back and the rest of it… you may not believe."

"Try me."

"Well, it all started when I arrived in the Gateroom…"

As Adria, Walter and General Landry left the Gateroom in order for a debriefing to take place, the Defence team were disappointed to be missing out on what would undoubtedly be a great story.

Mind you, base gossip being what it was, they would hear it soon enough.

SGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSG

After having started her day by being shot at, hours being interrogated in another time and dimension, followed by her subsequent trip home and the resulting two hour debriefing, Adria's body was crying out for a bath and her bed. But there was something she had to do first. Parking outside a single level house in the Colorado Springs suburb, Adria took a moment to compose herself before she exited her car and walked up the path to the front door. Her gentle knock on the door brought a quick response, and as soon as the door had opened, she was enfolded in the embrace of Vala Jackson.

"Darling, are you okay? Walter called and told me what happened. Is everything alright?"

Smiling through the unbidden tears that popped up, Adria wiped her eyes and gave a watery laugh. "That was quick. The debriefing only ended forty minutes ago."

"I have learnt to never underestimate how quickly Walter can extract information."

Sharing a giggle, the two alien women entered the Jackson home and sat down together on the couch. "So, how bad was it?"

"Well, I was strapped to that damned chair again and interrogated by my friends, so it wasn't fabulous, but …"

"But what, darling?"

"I saw Adam again. He was alive there."

"Oh Adria."

Enfolding her daughter in her arms as the younger woman broke down, Vala could only stroke her back as she cried her eyes out.

"And the thing is Mother, for half a heartbeat, I seriously wanted to stay. He was just standing there with that slightly confused look on his face, and all I could think about was holding on to him and never letting him go."

"But then the other half a heartbeat happened and you remembered what awaited you here?"

"Something like that." Sitting up and wiping her eyes, she turned to Vala with a questioning look. "Is he asleep?"

"Yes, he tried to stay awake as long as he could but he dropped off as we were looking through the photo albums."

"That's my boy." And with that, Adria stood up and walked down the corridor towards the guestroom that had become a second home to her. Opening the door, she spied the young figure in the bed, arms and legs splayed out and taking up as much room as possible, blond curls tousled and in disarray.

"Did he behave himself?"

"He and Davy decided to play 'SG1 takes on the Goa'uld' and there was a slight disagreement when choosing their roles, but they ended up okay."

Adria smiled as she looked upon the welcome sight of her two-year-old son, the main reason that she had fought her way out of the depression that consumed her after her fiancée's death. They had found out that she was pregnant only two weeks before Adam had lost his life, but she could still remember his joy at the thought of their future child.

"Let me guess, they both wanted to be the good guys, but AJ ended up forcing Davy to be the bad guy?"

"Something like that. Just as strong as his mother."

"And stubborn like his father."

With one final glance to the sleeping toddler, Adria closed the door and both her and her mother walked back towards the den. "Is it okay if we stay here tonight? I don't want to wake him…"

"It's fine. I'll grab some blankets so you can sleep on the couch here."

Smiling her gratitude at her mother, Adria removed her jacket and headed towards the bathroom in order to wash off some of the grime of the day. On her way down the corridor, she was halted by her mother's soft voice. "Before you go to sleep, I noticed when we were going through the photo albums that every time AJ sees a photo of Mitchell, he yells out 'Uncle Grover!' Did you have anything to do with that?"

Adria quickly smirked and then pasted an innocent look on her face. "I did promise him vengeance for the hair-dye trick. I never said there was a time limit on it!"

**FIN.**

_(For real this time!)_


End file.
